Ontario, Canada-based AEC Solutions, Inc. recently announced that it was been selected as a Startup of the Year finalist for New Civil Engineer’s Tech Fest Awards, which were held on September 14 in London. Hosted by New Civil Engineer – published by the Institution of Civil Engineers – the awards were part of the magazine’s annual Festival of Innovation and Technology.

AEC Solutions’ platform allows field inspectors, project managers, engineers, contractors, and owners to create RFP and bid documents directly from within CAD. The company believes that its product will save users time, improve progress reporting accuracy, and expedite payment approvals. Founded in 2014, and now halfway into its second construction season, engineering and construction teams at WSP, Aecon, and large Ontario municipalities, among others, have already used the tool.

“We are honored and humbled to have our innovative contributions to the civil engineering community recognized by one of the oldest and most prestigious industry publications in the world,” said Jeff Lyons, AEC’s vice president of sales & marketing and founding partner, in a press release. “I’m excited to showcase just how AEC has built the ‘digital pathway’ for construction contract administration, effectively bridging the gap in data flow between design and as-constructed data ready for GIS. We’re replacing old school methods like hand-written field notebooks and Microsoft Excel with a cloud-based solution that’s accessible 24/7 via the AEC Web portal and AEC Inspect mobile app.”

This year’s interactive plenary program featured a number of keynotes, TED-style talks, client panels, World Cafés and a new PechaKucha style start-up session. Running alongside this was new mini-Hack competition, as well as live judging of four headline categories recognizing innovations in health & safety, reducing carbon, driving efficiencies and creating smarter cities.

It also combines awards, live judging, conferences and networking, providing civil engineering knowledge and inspiration, so it will be interesting to see what else comes out of this year’s event.

About The Author

Stephen Del Percio is the founder of AEC Labs. He's a civil engineer by training with nearly two decades of experience in the trenches of the construction industry, both as a project manager and an attorney. Stephen also took a two-year sabbatical from the industry inside Amazon.com, an experience which sparked his interested in how tech could be applied to, and ultimately improve, the AEC industry. You can find him on social media below or send him an email to connect!